Donations Critical to the Success of this first ever Public/Private Partnership for HHW in McLean County

Dear Friend of the EAC:

It’s been four long years since McLean County saw its last Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Collection Event. Since the fall of 2007 area residents have patiently waited for a safe way to dispose of their old herbicides, fertilizers, oil-based paints, chemicals, and other hazardous materials. We are fortunate that many in our community are aware of the risks of improper disposal of HHW items. The threat of polluting our drinking water supply is real—conventional landfills are not designed to contain hazardous wastes.

Unfortunately the budget crisis at the state level has taken its toll. No Illinois EPA funded HHW collection events are being scheduled. The state’s Solid Waste Fund was “swept” by the General Assembly for other purposes. I regularly check in with the IEPA, hoping for some indication that funding for HHW collection events will resume, but my inquiries always result in disappointment.

It’s high time we take matters into our own hands – so that’s exactly what we are doing. The Ecology Action Center, with a growing list of community partners, is planning for a HHW Collection event for September 2012 for McLean County residents. This first-ever public and private partnership for HHW has an ambitious goal of raising $125,000 to cover the necessary expenses of a one-day HHW event.

To make this event happen, we need your help. We are asking our members, friends, and supporters to consider making a year-end tax deductible contribution to the EAC’s HHW Fund. No contribution is too small or too large. For example, if each of the 2000 households that participated in the 2007 HHW event contributed as little as $10, we would be $20,000 closer to reaching our goal!

Please contribute to the HHW Fund. You may make an online contribution using your credit card or PayPal account at www.ecologyactioncenter.org.

Or you may make donation checks out to “Ecology Action Center” and mail to:

Ecology Action Center 

Attn: HHW Fund 

202 W College Ave 

Normal, IL 6171 

All contributions are tax deductible. All donors will receive an acknowledgment for tax purposes.

Businesses or organizations interested in sponsorship opportunities should contact me at (309) 454-3169 or mbrown@ecologyactioncenter.org.

Thank you for supporting safe disposal of hazardous wastes in McLean County,

Michael Brown

Executive Director

Speaking were the Katic’s, an absolutely lovely young newly married couple and owners of a new old world artisan bakery.

There presentation included the sweet story of how they met and their love and passion for teaching others to get back to local corner bakeries.

I first tasted Katic’s croissants at our Farmers Market.  It was the kindof experience that found my mouth in an open “o” with flakes of perfect croissant all down the front of my shirt.  One didn’t care about the crumbs and went back for more “o”.  I thought to myself…THIS, is the real thing. With the flurry around their booth, I am certainly not alone in thinking their breads are remarkable.

Serbian owner and head baker, Dusan, speaks enthusiastically of bread as if it were a song. Bread – good bread, being just one note or part of a melody.  To me he was speaking to the ceremony of a meal, all the parts – including really good bread and creating hearth and home around the table.

This man was whistling my tune!!

When my first marriage fell apart I left my husband and rented a tiny brick townhouse in a community I very much wanted to be a part of. The community was beyond my means and so I lived on the edge. Things were tough back then and along with that came some decisions and changes for me and my two kids.

I completely let go of TV, ALL after school and weekend activities,  and shifted to organics, cooking from scratch in a way that that included them and lots of lots of reading. We walked to and from school together.  I was living on a dime, if that, and completely starting over. In that transition time we got to know each other, and we created each day around learning and nourishment. Our evenings together were ceremony.

I am clear I built something around the dinner table that was “home”.  I also feel we treasured dinner together. Perhaps like me, you’ve observed that the evening meal is almost completely lost, similar to the vanishing art of writing a letter.

The Katic’s shared with us their astonishing croissants topped with french butter and homemade jam, a hearty brown sourdough with hand-crafted local goat blue cheese, topped with pears and toasted walnuts and an incredible airy batard topped with brie and honey crisp apples from nearby and/or tomato, basil and olive oil from their own garden!! YUM!!

In european cultures much of the foods they eat are of quality, when they dine they are surrounded with family and friends, the taste sensations of the foods they are ingesting are amazing.  Dining is passionate and experiential. These cultures do not have obesity issues. Here I believe our fast american industrialized food culture had created an entire population that is ill and horribly disconnected.

Getting back to the old ways, or european ways not only slows things down. I feel it’s a healthier way of life. Bread in itself isn’t evil as campaigns against carbs might suggest, low quality bread though, is a completely different story.

Katic Bakery is coming to our community!!  We will all be part of the baking with an oven to sit around central to the experience! They envision admirably, teaching others to bake bread the old world way – sharing the artistry and singing a beautiful song with bread as one of the magical musical notes!

We all left the event by the way with loaves of bread. One to eat and one to share. What a concept!!

Thank you for your sharing, your love and your bread Katic Bakery!

At the time, like most folks I ate junk, drank pop, and I wondered why I didn’t feel very well.

The shifts started out small, one thing at a time. Took me two years before I felt my stride.

Since I’ve been an advocate for cooking scratch, eating organic, local and the alternative food market.

Many many years later, I am still making changes and still learning.

Goes to say that healthy living is a life long project, eh??

Last year I stopped buying canned beans and began making my own from dried to avoid BPA found in the lining of the can.  It’s not a hassle at all to make my own!! I save money, avoid the chemical and contribute in a small way to less in the landfill.

Recently in a green moms yahoo group it was shared that PFAO was in the wrappers of butter.

What??

The same chemical that coats teflon is what butter comes in ie; coated food packaging?

Geesh!!!

Beth Terry of a Plastic Free Life shared a link to this post/article.

Part of the article states: Food packaging is an egregious example of hidden PFC exposure.

UGH.

The article further talks about how most of us ( 98%) have traces of this chemical in our blood.

This food packaging chemical leaches into the butter.

Boy that makes me mad.

The solution?

Make your own butter!!

I thought,  I could do that !!

There are three ways I found to make butter, the food processor, a stand up mixer or a in a jar.

Loved the options – and the videos!! I chose the stand up mixer version because he said butter in 10 minutes and he was right!!! Each person had their own little nuance or different way, but the bottom line is it all ends up as butter!!

It was super easy and boy is this homemade butter ever delicious.

Ever think about them?

Ever think about them in relationship to back to school?

the doorknobs
the desks
the teachers desk
the pencils
the pens
the chairs
the computer key boards
the chalk
the eraser
the books
the drinking fountain
the lunch table
the lunch box
the milk carton
the cafeteria
the washroom
the gym
the locker room
the bus

need I go on ?

Everything mentioned above are items that are touched by EVERYONE over and over and over.

Would you agree that the germ factor in the school environment is HUGE?

As a wellness consultant I adore back to school for a variety of reasons. In my business I begin to hear from everyone again.

My mommy clients in particular totally come out of the woodwork – the phone rings with a different type of determination —

I NEED some vitamins!! My family is already starting to get sick.

Even as we get into the second week school related illness have begun.

“… the minute my kids get exposed,….” they say.

Breaks my heart

I have many a personal theory as to what is it about school that makes my child sick phenomenon

Perhaps it’s the use of toxic chemicals in the classroom or around the school’s property, some states thanks to the Green Schools Act are making strides to remedy that.

Perhaps it’s because very little cleaning actually occurs in the classroom.

We additionally have horrific school lunch programs, high sugar consumption and stress, not to mention a shift to cooler weather.

All of these things contribute to reduced immune function. Reduced immune function equals sick

Oh and the germs. Lots and lots of germs.

I don’t advocate germ hysteria or paranoia

Basic hand washing will get many of us very far.

I personally feel That anti-bacterial stuff is a bunch of hooey

I will say this …

Consider a happy back to school gift for the teacher

Give them this handy dandy canister of non-toxic germ wipes.

They can use them to actually clean the door knobs and computer key boards or everything!

Best yet maybe the teacher would let you come in and do a daily ” wipe “.

That way you know it’s getting done!

It never hurts to take your vitamins too!!

Holy smokes  - it’s August.

It’s that back to school time.

Can you feel it?

Time to spend absolute crazy amounts of money for “Back To School” things.

Must all those back to school things be brand spanking new?

I know it’s time to stand in squeaky new shoes, fresh haircuts, have sharpened No. 2′s ready to write, color matching notebooks and folders.  We all gear up for the delicious smell of crayons, book day, committee work, making school lunches and car pooling. We are all beginning to endure the registration lines.

I get this ritual. I did this year after year. and i love the feeling of back to school.

I use to actually save the entire year for the volume of cash I laid out at this time. I had an envelope titled school and each month I put money away.  The three major cash outlays each year;  back to school, the holidays and summer activities.

I think it’s time to pause and re-think this marketing ploy.

I think that some of the back to school expenses are not necessary.

I’d love to suggest a bit of restraint.

A bit of anti-consumerism.

Ask ourselves do we really really NEED all of this stuff?

If the shoes we have now fit, and are in good condition – could we wait to buy the new ones until we need to ?   Is there someone in school noticing if your daughter’s hair has just been cut?  Perhaps there are pencils, markers and crayons from last year that still function?? How can we re-use the binders and folders from the year prior?

I ask this not only to have one save money, but also from an environment perspective too.  So much is just pitched these days.   Mass purchasing lead to more pitching.   Where does it begin and where does end?

Think about it.

Artist /Author Franke James, whom I admire tremendously,  lives there and had agreed to meet me.

One can’t even begin to imagine my “pinch me” delight at this opportunity!  I say pinch me because Franke’s an inspiration to me.

Prior to my leaving, Franke shared some very alarming news about the canadian government blacklisting her pending european art show. Her post sharing this news was written the night before I left.  All I could do with the time I had was share a tweet about it pointing to her post. Her headline spoke to being silenced.

WOW — I found myself wondering how that would feel?

Imagine having your voice or your art completely squelched!

In today’s day of free speech and expression that just doesn’t seem possible, yet we ALL know censorship happens all the time.

On her blog post I wrote this comment:

Franke James examples creative brilliance, powerful voice and female gumption. Blacklisting her or any artist just isn’t right. Governments rearing their ugly heads like this show who and what they really are. I agree social media will have a field day with this, to your advantage I hope Franke – you deserve better.

Just watch social media will take this ugliness and story to a level not possible in traditional mediums. It will be interesting to see what happens as the situation continues to unfold.

Our time together was amusing.

My getting way lost in Toronto ( ugh ) delayed my arrival terribly.  She, in the mean time, found herself in between a conversation with Huffington Post and a radio interview.

I had all kinds of questions prepared in my head, yet with my late arrival, her flurry of activity, her returning from being out of town the days prior, and everything else. I found myself unfocused and I have to admit a bit star struck.

She told me I looked exactly like she imagined.  I felt the same way  – her big warm smile, giggly personality, cute as a button outfit and her trying to just go with the flow and make it all work was positively endearing. She, her home, her husband, her daughter just arriving for a visit and again the absolute flurry of her life all still had me feel welcomed, treasured and exactly what I might expect from Franke James.

I spoke to her about being famous and what that might be like and she just said …you mean that we might be normal despite being famous??   Uh – I had to agree!!

Franke James green journey captured my attention in 2007.  I was a brand new and very naive blogger.  I left a way too gushy “fan” comment on her post about her giving up her SUV. The truth was I had never been exposed to such original expression or voice.  She impressed me.  Her visual essays exampled the amazing potential and unique opportunity blogging offers.  She also examples a very human and accessible person.   Not often found in fame.

Since, and purely because of the blogosphere I have felt an integral part of her green evolvement and fame!   This speaks over and over to why I love the connecting and power of blogging.

Thanks to social media her recent turn events will not go unnoticed.

I look forward to continuing to be part of the story.

P.S.  Thank you Franke for the signed copy of your book, My Green Conscious!!

Images below taken by karen hanrahan 

Images below taken by Franke and Bill James 

Fracking stands for “hydraulic fracturing,” a highly polluting and chemical process for tapping underground pools of natural gas. The process harms our drinking water supply.

Green moms took a group look at the  Fracking issue and had an emergency carnival about it – thanks to Diane of Big Green Purse for hostessing this important topic.

You might want to read what some of us learned.

Last month I spent a day teaching kids how to make seed starter pots out of newspaper.

I was struck by several things.

What a simple fun project.

How easy it is for all ages to participate. Including myself who since has taken on planting her own seed starts!

The project involves being practical and using leftover newspapers, making something, planting a seed that one can watch grow, and growing something that is either beautiful or good to eat!!

The versatility of the project is also worth mentioning. Once the starts have sprouted a child can either plant it in their garden or in a pot on a porch or in a sunny window!! Very inexpensive also.

I was so struck by the pleasure that younger kids have in making, playing  in dirt and the idea that something will grow and become.  I was reminded of wonder and joy!!

One rather boisterous child exclaimed, “You mean it will grow and become a real flower? For real? ” His toothless grin really warmed my heart.

Make a starter pot out of newspaper or two. Plant a seed and watch it grow.  When it matures let’s say into some snap peas or radishes, or perhaps lettuce.  Eat it! And then do it all over again!!

Nature at your fingertips!

image by karen hanrahan

Here are a few lovely substances one might find in an oven cleaner:

Naphthalene
A white crystalline compound derived from coal tar or petroleum and used in manufacturing dyes, moth repellents, and explosives and as a solvent. Also called tar camphor

Petroleum Distillates
A thick, flammable, yellow-to-black mixture of gaseous, liquid, and solid hydrocarbons that occurs naturally beneath the earth’s surface, can be separated into fractions including natural gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, fuel and lubricating oils, paraffin wax, and asphalt and is used as raw material for a wide variety of derivative products.

Butylcelosolve
Any of four flammable alcohols derived from butanes and used in organic synthesis and as solvents.

Carcinogens -
Substances that increase the risk of neoplasms in humans or animals. Both genotoxic chemicals, which affect DNA directly, and nongenotoxic chemicals, which induce neoplasms by other mechanism, are included.

Ammonia -
A colorless, pungent gas extensively used to manufacture fertilizers and a wide variety of nitrogen-containing organic and inorganic chemicals.

Chlorine -
A highly irritating, greenish-yellow gaseous halogen, capable of combining with nearly all other elements, produced principally by electrolysis of sodium chloride and used widely to purify water, as a disinfectant and bleaching agent, and in the manufacture of many important compounds including chloroform and carbon tetrachloride.

Hydrochloric Acid -
A clear, colorless, fuming, poisonous, highly acidic aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride, HCl, used as a chemical intermediate and in petroleum production, ore reduction, food processing, pickling, and metal cleaning. It is found in the stomach in dilute form.

Organochlorine -
Any of various hydrocarbon pesticides, such as DDT, that contain chlorine.

the above definitions sourced from what’s under YOUR Sink?

What if you could clean off burnt on food in your oven without losing nose hairs in the process?

Allow me to share a green clean nugget, a moment of greenness – just you, me and that darn oven.

Consider trying a green clean scouring paste that smells a little like something between bubble gum and cherry Kool-Aid.

Gentle in that it won’t scratch, but mighty in that it works really well !!

It’s NON-TOXIC and bio-degradable too!

Certainly not something one thinks of as an oven cleaner.

How many folks do you know who believe it needs to be really nasty chemical to get the job done?

Try again.  Pick your very toughest stain or oven and let this alternative scouring paste and a little elbow grease take it on!!

circa 1967self-cleaning flickr image

last year one of my readers said — i have that oven!!